Efficient management of the road infrastructure: the tasks required and the techniques available

The Pacific Ring is an area of rapid economic growth. All forms of communication have been increased in parallel to permit the consequent increase of both regional and external trade. The roads sector has had to share its part of this burden. Existing networks have had to withstand traffic damage far higher than that for which they were designed and new routes have been established along the lines of maximum trade and hence benefit to the people. This has in turn placed a heavy burden on operating authorities, not only with respect to direct expenditure on the roads, but also with the management of existing personnel and resources. In order to assist with both of these tasks, there has been a growing interest, from the Region, in techniques ranging from relatively simple road condition assessment devices to complex economic models, designed to optimise the budgeted expenditure on a road network. This paper discusses the new generation of systems that are becoming available to overcome the problems of road network operation, together with the techniques and devices that arguably enable them to operate to the ultimate benefit of the Region's people (A).